Why Floor and Ceil in Sorted Array in DSA Rust?

The Big Idea

What if you could find the closest match in a huge list instantly, without checking every item?

The Scenario

Imagine you have a sorted list of prices for products, and you want to find the closest price that is just less than or equal to a customer's budget (floor), or the closest price that is just greater than or equal to it (ceil).

Doing this by checking each price one by one is slow and frustrating, especially if the list is very long.

The Problem

Manually scanning the list means looking at every price until you find the right one. This takes a lot of time if the list is big.

It's easy to make mistakes, like missing the closest price or going past it.

This slow and error-prone method wastes time and can annoy customers waiting for answers.

The Solution

Using the floor and ceil concept with a sorted array lets you quickly jump to the closest prices without checking every single one.

This method uses smart searching to find the exact spot where the budget fits, making the process fast and reliable.

Before vs After

✗ Before

let mut floor = None;
for &price in prices.iter() {
    if price <= budget {
        floor = Some(price);
    } else {
        break;
    }
}

✓ After

let floor = prices.binary_search_by(|&x| x.cmp(&budget))
    .map_or_else(|i| if i == 0 { None } else { Some(prices[i - 1]) }, |i| Some(prices[i]));

What It Enables

This lets you instantly find the closest smaller or larger value in a sorted list, making your programs faster and smarter.

Real Life Example

Online shopping sites use floor and ceil to suggest products just within or just above your budget, helping you find the best deals quickly.

Key Takeaways

Manual search is slow and error-prone for finding closest values.

Floor and ceil use smart searching in sorted arrays for speed and accuracy.

This concept helps in many real-world tasks like price matching and recommendations.

Practice

1. What is the floor of a number in a sorted array?

easy

A. The smallest element less than the number

B. The smallest element greater than the number

C. The greatest element less than or equal to the number

D. The greatest element greater than or equal to the number

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand floor definition in sorted array

   The floor of a number is the greatest element in the array that is less than or equal to the given number.

2. Step 2: Compare options with definition

   The greatest element less than or equal to the number matches the definition exactly, others describe ceil or incorrect concepts.

3. Final Answer:

   The greatest element less than or equal to the number -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   Floor = greatest ≤ number [OK]

Hint: Floor is largest ≤ target in sorted array [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing floor with ceil
• Thinking floor is smallest element
• Ignoring equality in floor definition

2. Which Rust code snippet correctly declares a sorted array of integers?

easy

A. let arr = [1, 3, 5, 7, 9];

B. let arr = (1, 3, 5, 7, 9);

C. let arr = {1, 3, 5, 7, 9};

D. let arr = <1, 3, 5, 7, 9>;

Solution

1. Step 1: Recall Rust array syntax

   Rust arrays use square brackets [] with comma-separated values.

2. Step 2: Check each option

   let arr = [1, 3, 5, 7, 9]; uses correct syntax. let arr = (1, 3, 5, 7, 9); uses tuple syntax with parentheses, let arr = {1, 3, 5, 7, 9}; uses braces resembling sets or blocks, let arr = <1, 3, 5, 7, 9>; uses angle brackets which are invalid.

3. Final Answer:

   let arr = [1, 3, 5, 7, 9]; -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Rust arrays use [] [OK]

Hint: Use square brackets [] for arrays in Rust [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using parentheses () for arrays
• Using braces {} which are for blocks
• Using angle brackets <> which are invalid here

3. Given the sorted array arr = [2, 4, 6, 8, 10], what is the floor and ceil of 7?

medium

A. Floor = 6, Ceil = 8

B. Floor = 4, Ceil = 6

C. Floor = 8, Ceil = 10

D. Floor = 7, Ceil = 7

Solution

1. Step 1: Find floor of 7 in array

   Floor is greatest element ≤ 7. Elements ≤ 7 are 2,4,6. Greatest is 6.

2. Step 2: Find ceil of 7 in array

   Ceil is smallest element ≥ 7. Elements ≥ 7 are 8,10. Smallest is 8.

3. Final Answer:

   Floor = 6, Ceil = 8 -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Floor ≤ 7 = 6, Ceil ≥ 7 = 8 [OK]

Hint: Floor ≤ target, Ceil ≥ target in sorted array [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Choosing floor or ceil outside array bounds
• Confusing floor and ceil values
• Assuming floor or ceil equals the target always

4. Consider this Rust function to find floor in a sorted array:

fn find_floor(arr: &[i32], target: i32) -> Option<i32> {
    let mut low = 0;
    let mut high = arr.len() - 1;
    let mut floor = None;
    while low <= high {
        let mid = (low + high) / 2;
        if arr[mid] == target {
            return Some(arr[mid]);
        } else if arr[mid] < target {
            floor = Some(arr[mid]);
            low = mid + 1;
        } else {
            high = mid - 1;
        }
    }
    floor
}

What is the bug in this code?

medium

A. Incorrect update of low and high pointers

B. Using arr.len() - 1 without checking if array is empty

C. Returning Some(arr[mid]) instead of index

D. Not handling the case when target is smaller than all elements

Solution

1. Step 1: Analyze initialization of high pointer

   Using arr.len() - 1 causes panic if array is empty because len() is 0 and subtracting 1 underflows.

2. Step 2: Check other parts of code

   Other logic for binary search and floor update is correct. The main bug is unsafe initialization.

3. Final Answer:

   Using arr.len() - 1 without checking if array is empty -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   Empty array causes panic at arr.len() - 1 [OK]

Hint: Check empty array before subtracting 1 from length [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Ignoring empty array edge case
• Assuming array always has elements
• Confusing return value with index

5. You have a sorted array arr = [1, 3, 5, 7, 9]. You want to find the floor and ceil for multiple targets: [0, 4, 10]. Which Rust code snippet correctly returns a vector of tuples with floor and ceil for each target? Assume floor or ceil is None if not found.

hard

A. ```rust
fn floor_ceil(arr: &[i32], targets: &[i32]) -> Vec<(Option<i32>, Option<i32>)> {
targets.iter().map(|&t| {
let floor = arr.iter().filter(|&&x| x <= t).min().copied();
let ceil = arr.iter().filter(|&&x| x >= t).max().copied();
(floor, ceil)
}).collect()
}
```

B. ```rust
fn floor_ceil(arr: &[i32], targets: &[i32]) -> Vec<(Option<i32>, Option<i32>)> {
targets.iter().map(|&t| {
let floor = arr.iter().filter(|&&x| x < t).max().copied();
let ceil = arr.iter().filter(|&&x| x > t).min().copied();
(floor, ceil)
}).collect()
}
```

C. ```rust
fn floor_ceil(arr: &[i32], targets: &[i32]) -> Vec<(Option<i32>, Option<i32>)> {
targets.iter().map(|&t| {
let floor = arr.iter().find(|&&x| x <= t).copied();
let ceil = arr.iter().find(|&&x| x >= t).copied();
(floor, ceil)
}).collect()
}
```

D. ```rust
fn floor_ceil(arr: &[i32], targets: &[i32]) -> Vec<(Option<i32>, Option<i32>)> {
targets.iter().map(|&t| {
let floor = arr.iter().filter(|&&x| x <= t).max().copied();
let ceil = arr.iter().filter(|&&x| x >= t).min().copied();
(floor, ceil)
}).collect()
}
```

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand floor and ceil conditions

   Floor is max element ≤ target, ceil is min element ≥ target.

2. Step 2: Analyze each code snippet

   ```rust fn floor_ceil(arr: &[i32], targets: &[i32]) -> Vec<(Option<i32>, Option<i32>)> { targets.iter().map(|&t| { let floor = arr.iter().filter(|&&x| x <= t).max().copied(); let ceil = arr.iter().filter(|&&x| x >= t).min().copied(); (floor, ceil) }).collect() } ``` uses filter with ≤ and ≥, then max and min respectively, which matches floor and ceil definitions. ```rust fn floor_ceil(arr: &[i32], targets: &[i32]) -> Vec<(Option<i32>, Option<i32>)> { targets.iter().map(|&t| { let floor = arr.iter().filter(|&&x| x < t).max().copied(); let ceil = arr.iter().filter(|&&x| x > t).min().copied(); (floor, ceil) }).collect() } ``` uses < and > which exclude equality. ```rust fn floor_ceil(arr: &[i32], targets: &[i32]) -> Vec<(Option<i32>, Option<i32>)> { targets.iter().map(|&t| { let floor = arr.iter().find(|&&x| x <= t).copied(); let ceil = arr.iter().find(|&&x| x >= t).copied(); (floor, ceil) }).collect() } ``` uses find which returns first match, not max or min. ```rust fn floor_ceil(arr: &[i32], targets: &[i32]) -> Vec<(Option<i32>, Option<i32>)> { targets.iter().map(|&t| { let floor = arr.iter().filter(|&&x| x <= t).min().copied(); let ceil = arr.iter().filter(|&&x| x >= t).max().copied(); (floor, ceil) }).collect() } ``` reverses min and max causing wrong results.

3. Final Answer:

   filter(|&&x| x <= t).max() for floor, filter(|&&x| x >= t).min() for ceil -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   Floor = max ≤ target, Ceil = min ≥ target [OK]

Hint: Floor uses max ≤ target, ceil uses min ≥ target filters [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using strict < or > instead of ≤ or ≥
• Using find instead of max/min for floor/ceil
• Swapping min and max in floor/ceil logic